Dec 5 2023
Scott Sumner
Donald Trump has promised to pay off the entire national debt within 4 years: “We’re going to pay off debt — the $35 trillion in debt. We’re going to pay it off. We’re going to get it done fast, too.” I am supposed to be an economic commentator. So perhaps I should do my civic duty and evaluate this eco...
Dec 4 2023
David Henderson
I've written before about why I think California is the canary in the coal mine for the success or failure of electric vehicle (EV) mandates. Now, based on an experience I had in Phoenix last Thursday, I think there are multiple canaries. I had rented a car from Avis on-line, to be picked up at the rental car cen...
Dec 3 2023
Pierre Lemieux
It is a strange opinion that profits—or for that matter wages—“drive” inflation, but it does help an economist maintain a spirit of tolerance and see a pedagogical opportunity in every error. A Wall Street Journal reporter is at it again with a story of yesterday titled “Outsize Profits Helped Drive Inflation...
Dec 2 2023
Scott Sumner
The dire warnings about the effects of pot legalization failed to pan out. But that has not stopped drug warriors from arguing that a soft on drugs approach would be disastrous. Consider this recent article in the OC Register: So in 2014, with the best of intentions, voters passed Proposition 47. This reduced a grea...
Dec 2 2023
David Henderson
Yes, really. I gave my keynote speech at the Arizona State University (ASU) conference yesterday morning, and it was only my second favorite talk I attended. Which one beat it out? A panel on mandated parking. All 3 of the speakers made cogent, passionate, fact-filled arguments against parking mandates. The moderato...
Dec 1 2023
Jon Murphy
We often hear that profits get a bad rap. But costs are just as often cause for complaint. Many economists treat costs as friction that can create market failures. For example, barriers to entry are blamed for monopolies. Private solutions to externalities are often deemed impossible if transaction costs are too hi...
Nov 30 2023
Scott Sumner
Several presidential candidates have suggested that the US military should attack Mexican drug gangs. Here's Reuters: Sending troops or firing missiles into Mexico to battle cartels, as proposed by Republican 2024 presidential candidates including former President Donald Trump, could lead to casualties and bloody re...
Read this Arnold Kling Liberty Classic
Apr 2 2018
By Arnold Kling
Understanding the market process as a systematic, error-corrective sequence of profit-inspired entrepreneurial discoveries, continually reshuffled and redirected as a result of the ceaseless impact of exogenous changes, should drastically alter our appreciation of key features of capitalism. —Israel M. Kirzner, Comp...
Nov 30 2023
Kevin Corcoran
My first two critiques (here and here) of Hazony’s work were focused on his definitions of liberal and conservative, and his arguments regarding philosophy and economics. In this last critique, I focus on his claims about the necessity of religion as a center for a conservative worldview, as he defines it. Ove...
Nov 30 2023
David Henderson
When I lived in Canada, we didn't call macaroni and cheese "Mac and Cheese." Instead, we called it "Kraft Dinner." In other words, we referred to the particular brand. I had thought it was identical to Americans' Mac and Cheese produced by Kraft Foods. But I discovered different on Monday evening. I had brought back...
Nov 29 2023
Art Carden
It’s sad when an enterprise fails. Each one represents someone’s hopes and ambitions. Some are poorly thought out, some cynical cash grabs, but many startups represent people’s well-intentioned efforts to provide for themselves and their loved ones. Every failure is someone’s dashed dream. As sad as this is, it...
Nov 29 2023
David Henderson
I was talking to a friend today who recently saw the movie Napoleon. She said that she hadn't known much about Napoleon. I told her that I thought he was one of the most evil men in the 19th century. The reason: he was the inventor of the modern version of conscription, where men could be drafted and send over a thousa...
Nov 28 2023
David Henderson
If you've followed the news today, you probably know that Warren Buffett's friend and fellow investor Charlie Munger died today at age 99. That's a nice long run. I never met the man but I did have an interaction with him in 1981. Warning: The whole rest of this will be about me, not him. So if you're not interes...
Nov 28 2023
Scott Sumner
There's a debate about whether LLMs such as GPT-4 have some sort of consciousness. That is, are they able to think, analyze, understand, etc., in a way that is somewhat analogous to how the human mind works? Back in 2022, Gwern argued that LLMs have agency: Powerful generative models like GPT-3 learn to imitate ...
Nov 28 2023
Pierre Lemieux
To to be recognized as a card-carrying progressive (called “liberal” in America), one sine-qua-non condition is a near-unconditional support for trade unions and the power that the state has outsourced to them---such as to force employers to negotiate or employees to pay dues. With that usually comes a deep reveren...
Nov 28 2023
Kevin Corcoran
In my initial critique of Hazony's Conservatism: A Rediscovery, I noted some objections to the way he defines conservative and liberal. But in addition, Hazony falters in some of his philosophical commentary as well. He tells us “there is much mediocre philosophy in circulation, and so one sometimes hears it said...